[Physics] Ampère’s law vs Biot Savart law

electromagnetismmagnetic fieldsmagnetostatics

So I feel like I understand how both these laws work however it seems like Ampère's law will find the strength of the magnetic field at a point (the point is taken as $z$ in this example and the red lines represent the contour of the magnetic field):

Ampere's law diagram

And the Biot-Savart law essentially finds the magnetic field at that point that is due to the current in the whole wire (where the red lines, in this case, represent the unit vector of the current at distances infinitesimally small in the wire):

Biot Savart Diagram

Now my questions are, why does Ampère's law often apply to an infinitely long wire and the Biot-Savart Law apply to a short wire? Wouldn't it make sense for the Biot-Savart Law to apply for situations where there is a long wire since the current all the way through the wire would affect the magnetic field at a point $z$? And in that case, why would you ever use Ampère's law?

I feel Ampère's law would be innaccurate as it only represents the magnetic field directly perpendicular to the current wire at a certain length $dl$. But surely more of the wire would affect the magnetic field at point $z$ so how can you ever use Ampère's law? I feel that the Biot-Savart law makes more sense in every scenario, please help.

Best Answer

When you ask

why does Ampère's law often apply to an infinitely long wire and the Biot Savart Law apply to a short wire?

you're completely mistaken: both Ampère's law and the Biot-Savart law always hold.

More specifically, if you have a current $I$ running over a curve $\mathcal C_0$, then:

  • The Biot-Savart law specifies the magnetic field $\mathbf B(\mathbf r)$ at any given position $\mathbf r$ in terms of an integral over the current-carrying circuit, $$\mathbf B(\mathbf r) = \frac{\mu_0}{4\pi} \int_{\mathcal C_0} \frac{I\mathrm d\mathbf l \times(\mathbf r-\mathbf r')}{\|\mathbf r-\mathbf r'\|^3}.$$

  • Ampère's law specifies the circulation of $\mathbf B$ over any arbitrary curve $\mathcal C$ in terms of the current enclosed by said curve: $$\oint_\mathcal{C} \mathbf B\cdot\mathrm d\mathbf l = \mu_0 I_\mathrm{enc}.$$

If your goal is finding $\mathbf B(\mathbf r)$ at a given point, then you can use either or both to find it, and you normally use the simplest available route. If you have an infinite wire with lots of symmetry, the simplest route is to use Ampère's law, because you don't have to do any integrals. If you don't have such symmetry, you default to the Biot-Savart law, because then Ampère's law doesn't say anything about any individual point in space.

Ultimately, for magnetostatic calculations, the Biot-Savart law is probably the sturdiest way to obtain magnetic fields (though in some situations it can make sense to numerically solve Ampère's law in its differential form). However, in terms of fundamental importance, it is Ampère's law that wins the day, as part and parcel of the Maxwell equations, and therefore as a central part of the main framework of electrodynamics.